Spotlight: Brian Luce
When it comes to policing in Chicago, no one brings more credibility than Brian Luce. After a 27-year career in law enforcement, Luce has spent the last 13 years working with Wolf Entertainment, sharing his expertise and becoming a beloved presence on set. Now, he’s taking on a new role as host of the One Chicago Podcast, where he offers fans a behind-the-scenes perspective on the shows they love. We sat down with Luce to talk about his career, the podcast, and what this work means to him.
Q: Tell us about your work as a producer for Chicago P.D.. How did you get involved with Wolf Entertainment?
A: When I was working as a Chicago policeman, I worked a lot of overtime, including detail for movie and tv productions. Through that, I met a lot of wonderful people in the business, including a guy by the name of Steve Chikerotis, who started out also as the tech advisor for Chicago Fire. Him and I would bust balls back and forth, and share stories with each other. I was in law enforcement for 27 and a half years, and within that I was a Chicago policeman for 20 and a half years, I worked in the Bureau of Organized Crime for 18 years as an undercover officer, and I worked with the DEA. So I have a lot of experience, more than just a beat cop pushing a patrol car and answering calls all day. I knew what I was talking about when it came to what police officers do, with long-term investigations. One day, he gave me a call and said, Hey, would you meet with these guys who want to talk with you? I met with Matt Olmstead, Derek Haas, and Michael Brandt, and showed them around. I think I kind of blew their minds because they asked me if I would be interested in working together. Next thing you know, I’m in LA, telling my stories. I became a script consultant, then tech advisor, then associate producer, then consulting producer and now a straight up producer.
Q: Tell us about your roles through the years. What kind of things have you done and do you continue to do on the show?
A: As a script consultant, I would help writers understand what a Chicago cop would really say on the job. Like, we don’t say cruisers — we call them squads. I got to work with every writer from Matt Olmstead down and we’d go through each script and we would kick the tires on it and get it as real as possible. You just give them the raw material, and then they take that and turn it into something new. You give them the emotion, not even realizing you’re giving the emotion, because you’re just giving them truth. From there, I started to train the actors. I came in first to meet Jason Beghe, who plays Sergeant Hank Voight, and Jon Seda, who played Detective Antonio Dawson on Chicago Fire. I taught them how to work with guns, clear a building, do close quarter combat, how to talk like a police officer, all that. I continued with more actors, and I brought in a SWAT guy to teach the actors how to work with long guns, and brought in stunts to do coordinating, driving high speed driving. I’m lucky in that I’m rich in friendship — there’s not any department in the city of Chicago that I can’t reach out to. On any given script, I’ll reach out to five cops and ask what they think. Now, I’m the on-set guy. I’m there from call to wrap. It doesn’t matter if it’s freezing or raining sideways, I’m always here.
Q: Tell us about the One Chicago podcast. What has it been like to work on so far?
A: This is exactly what I have wanted to do forever, and never really had the authorization. I was afraid to share too much. So when they told me that they wanted me to host this podcast, that I could invite the fans behind the scenes into my kitchen and show how we make the sausage, I said are you kidding me? Of course I’ll do this. We’re sharing how much love goes into each of these shows, from every single person who works on them. Of course, Chikerotis was the first person I wanted to talk to for it, so my first interview was with him.
Q: What can fans expect from the podcast?
A: This ain’t a recap podcast. We’re asking intriguing questions that haven’t been asked before, and have intimate conversations that you won’t find in other places. It’s an amazing opportunity to hear from the people that work so hard to make these shows, whether they’re behind the camera or in front of it, about how they feel and what they think about the show, and where it’s going next. We’re going to open up the door to our big One Chicago family table, and invite you to eat with us. It’s that kind of deal. And we’ll have fun. We’ve always got to have fun.
Q: What is your favorite episode of a One Chicago show?
A: Season 12 Episode 2 of Chicago P.D. “Blood Bleeds Blue.” Rocked my socks. It was inspired by a real story that I lived, a kidnapping I worked with a partner who was catastrophically injured. That meant a lot to me, that they wrote based on my experience. The other reason that it means so much to me is that I had a medical emergency and technically died during production of the episode. I had to be taken to the hospital, and they did the defibrillator on me four times. I ended up being dead for a total of eight minutes. Five days later, I woke up from a coma not knowing that the church from my neighborhood was filled with people praying for me. And my One Chicago family was there for me. They stopped what they were doing on set, and they prayed for me. Anastasia, Gwen, everyone flew in and they were at the hospital with me. They had to finish filming the episode, thinking I was dead. But I was back to work in two weeks. I love doing what I’m doing, you know what I mean? Between that experience and the plot of the episode, it’s a real tear jerker for me.
Q: What does it mean to you to work on the show and now the podcast?
A: I’m born and raised in the city of Chicago, and still call it home. I live in a neighborhood called Bridgeport, which I love dearly. And I was born to be police. My dad was an officer as well, and died on the job. On P.D. we’re representing people that wear this uniform that’s so important to me, in the city I love, and I always want to get that right. If we get it wrong, it’s because we didn’t do our homework, and I won’t stand for that. We’ll take the extra step, and we’ll do the work. I’m passionate about this. I love what I get to do. I mean, I’ve been in law enforcement for 27 years, and now I’m doing this, are you kidding me? This is badass.
Hear more from Luce — listen to the One Chicago Podcast, with the first two episodes available starting September 18th on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and new episodes every Thursday through the season.
